The Šumej black kitchen

The Šumej homestead in Brdce above Dobrna is one of the few small farms in the municipality to have preserved some of its original architectural and cultural heritage until the present day. The oldest part of the homestead is an open-fire or "black” kitchen, featuring a small window as a smoke escape and beautiful details on the wooden hinges of the front door. Inside the house, it feels as though time stood still, allowing visitors to experience for themselves how people lived here over three centuries ago. At one time, the cottage with its open-fire kitchen was the only part of the homestead inhabited by the people. The fireplace and wood oven, the main room and the small bedroom were the main parts of the house.

As you enter the cottage, the first thing you notice is the smell of smoke that pervades the room. The floor is made of wood. Once your eyes have adjusted to the dimness and smoke, step into the modest kitchen, the heart of the cottage. The warm fireplace, the iron and clay crockery, coffee substitutes on the shelf by the fire, the pots and pans with a variety of cooking implements and spices and the straw basket for dried fruit are the main elements in the kitchen. The walls and ceiling are shiny with soot, the centuries-old deposits beginning to form veritable charcoal stalactites. A spider web in the corner has turned black from the smoke.

The main room, usually called the house (hiša), was where our ancestors worked, slept, ate, drank, cried, laughed and mourned. It is furnished with an old bench and table; the walls are decorated with religious images, whose frames are an obvious testament to their age. The smells, pots, windows, wardrobes and the old clay oven that still works – these items tell the story of these farmers’ modest way of life.